PMO OFFICIALS HELP KASHMIRI BOY’S
REUNION WITH HIS PARENTS
A
young Kashmiri boy, Qasim Murtaza (name changed to preserve identity)
who had run away from his home in Srinagar in September, was recently
re-united with his parents, thanks to the efforts of some officials
from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Qasim had appeared
for his Class X examinations and had got a compartment in one
of the subjects. He was thus, reluctant to pursue his studies
further and wanted to lend a helping hand in the family business.
But his parents did not agree to it. After a minor altercation
with his parents and family members, Qasim ran away from his home
and reached Delhi.
Qasim’s first night
was spent on the footpath/pavement of Old Delhi Railway Station.
On waking up the next morning, Qasim found his bag and cash missing.
As he had no money and clothes left with him, some labourers helped
him in securing a white washing job with a CPWD contractor. The
contractor deployed the young boy as a labourer for doing whitewashing
at the Gole Market residence of Shri Satinder Kumar, a P.A of
Shri Rohit Khera, Officer on Special Duty (Public Grievances),
PMO. Noting Qasim’s plight on one of his visits, Shri Satinder
Kumar not only provided food and clothes to Qasim, but also cajoled
him to divulge his J&K telephone number. Qasim refused to
talk to his parents, but showed a willingness to return to them.
Qasim’s family
was then contacted in Srinagar. The parents disclosed that they
had informed the J&K police of the missing boy, but were apprehensive
that he might have met with some untoward incident in some militancy-affected
area. The news of Qasim being safe and alive in Delhi warmed the
cockles of their hearts. After Qasim spoke to his parents, he
desired to return to his home. But he did not have any money left
with him. The rescue came from PMO. A sum of Rs. 500/- was provided
from the PM’s Discretionary Fund and Qasim was seen off personally
at the Old Delhi Railway Station by PMO staff and put on the train
to Jammu. The TTE of the train was also specially requested to
take personal care of Qasim and requested to escort him to the
Station Master, Jammu, where the parents of Qasim would be waiting
for him on arrival of the train.
On September
24, Qasim’s father called from Jammu to inform the officials of
Qasim’s safe arrival. They expressed their extreme gratefulness
for all the help extended to him by PMO and other officials, as
a result of which their only son has been re-united with the family.
